


Nothing Happened

by HipsterIzzy



Series: Take Me To Church [3]
Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Angst, M/M, Rhys has questionable methods of obtaining love, Unrequited Love, dubious...asking methods?, jk I'm not sorry, sorry Rhys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-09-08 01:49:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8825449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HipsterIzzy/pseuds/HipsterIzzy
Summary: Rhys confesses his feelings for Timothy in an attempt to abandon his priestly duties.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, my name is Izzy, and apparently, I like to retcon more than I like to finish the main storyline. Oops. But anyways, this is maybe...a year or more before Tim and Wil's wedding? There is no happy ending here, sorry, there can't be, not for these two, nope, won't happen, just piles of angst. Probably shouldn't be posting things after drinking, but. Whatever.

Ever since he’d taken the relatively small congregation, Rhys had secretly been smitten by one particular parishioner. He knew that breaking his vows to remain celibate was a grave sin, especially if he was breaking them to be with a man. His order was one of the more progressive orders, sure, and Rhys had even performed a couple of same-sex marriages. But that freedom wasn’t for a priest. No, Rhys had to devote himself completely to God, because even if the church allowed it, Rhys’s parents wouldn’t. And even if he had been a legal adult for eight years now, the fear of rejection from his parents kept Rhys from walking away from the faith.

But Timothy Lawrence was no ordinary man. Rhys was pretty sure Tim was some sort of divine creature, sent by God himself to torment the young priest. He was devout, humble, kind, generous, and loving. And it was all wrapped up in the most handsome package Rhys had ever seen. The priest often caught himself staring at Timothy during the services. And lately, he’d been finding any reason to catch the older man outside of services to chat. He’d learned that Timothy was a writer, he lived with his twin brother (oh, Rhys was definitely glad that twin–John?–wasn’t faithful to the church because he wasn’t sure he could handle two of them), he’d paid off his college debt by doing some modeling work for said twin, and that he loved cats. Through a scheduled one-on-one counseling session, Rhys had learned that Tim was bisexual (though he claimed to prefer men).

It seemed that Tim was everything Rhys wanted in a partner, yet he was one of many things Rhys couldn’t have as a priest.

With that thought in mind, Rhys had called Timothy and scheduled a meeting. He was sitting behind his desk now, nervously waiting for the older man to show up. He was going over everything he wanted to say, playing the scenario over and over in his head, trying out different word combinations so that his confession would be perfect. And each time, he imagined the other man confessing to similar feelings, kissing him passionately, and whisking him away from the oppressive chains of religious duties.

Suddenly, the door creaked open and the object of Rhys’s desire poked his head in.

“Father Gallagher, you wanted to see me? Alone?” A nervous smile graced Tim’s face, his heterochromatic eyes lit with curiosity. Rhys offered a warm smile in turn and gestured to the chairs in front of his desk.

“No need to be nervous, Mr. Lawrence~ Please, make yourself comfortable~ I just wanted to check in with you, see how things are going since our last counseling session. I know you were a bit distraught at first.”

“Father, I’ve told you, Mr. Lawrence is my twin. I’m just Tim~” The older man chuckled softly as he sat, crossing his left ankle over his right knee and settling in. “Honestly, I’m feeling much better about the matter. I’ve decided to get out and try dating again, even let my brother help me make an online dating profile. Though, I haven’t really met anyone I’d like to meet in person, yet…”

Rhys’s eyes lit up at that, at the prospect that he possibly had a chance with his handsome parishioner.

“That’s actually the main reason I wanted to meet with you today. You see, Timothy, as your priest, I felt I should strongly encourage you to date within the Church. Dating someone of a different faith, even dating a Protestant, can cause a lot of friction in the relationship. If you find someone in the Church, there will be less chance of you being led astray.” Rhys smiled warmly again, mentally patting himself on the back for his clever advice. He was hoping Timothy would ask if Rhys knew of anyone in his congregation, banking on the writer to be lazy enough to not want to find someone in another area of the city, or even in another town. There was no one other than Rhys, of course. A part of him knew that it was wrong to use his position to catch Tim. But a bigger part of him wanted to break free from the Catholic church altogether, and he knew he could only do it with the right man by his side.

And like a lamb led to slaughter, Timothy happily followed along. “I know it’s probably confidential, but…did you happen to have anyone in mind, Father? I understand if you aren’t allowed to tell. But…if there is, you could give them my name? Maybe?” The way Timothy smiled hopefully almost made Rhys feel bad for the way he was exploiting the situation.

Almost.

Rhys looked down at his hands, playing up his innocent looks as he’d practiced hundreds of times alone in front of his mirror. “I actually do know of someone…and you’ve spoken with him quite a bit, maybe even let on to him about your feelings a time or two.” Rhys looked back up just in time to catch the confusion clouding his parishioner’s face.

“Father, I-I don’t…I haven’t…The only person in the congregation that knows is you.” The way Tim’s eyebrows pinched together really made him seem younger than he was, almost childlike.

“I know, Timothy~” Rhys grinned, watching for the telltale signs of revelation, waiting for the older man to stand and sweep him off his feet. He’d dreamed of his first kiss with Tim. Sometimes, it was soft, innocent. Other times, it was ablaze with passion. But it always left the young priest hungry for the real thing.

But there was no elated look of relief. There was no kiss, no dramatic hug, no riding off into the sunset. Timothy’s face remained unchanged, save for the underlying current of anger. The silence between them seemed to stretch on into eternity, the pit in the young priest’s stomach growing with it.

“Father Gallagher, you–You’re not my type…” Timothy looked away from him, his face unreadable.

“L-look, if it’s because I’m a priest, I…Well, I never wanted to be one.” Rhys stood, intending to walk around the desk and plead with the older man. “I’m ready to give it all up, just give me the chance, and we can both be free to live happy lives.”

As Rhys extended his hand to touch Tim’s shoulder, the other man stood abruptly, almost knocking over his chair in his haste to go. “E-excuse me, I have to go.”

And just like that, Rhys was alone in his office again.

A familiar feeling slowly began to wash over him. His thoughts wandered back to his childhood, when his father insisted he play baseball instead of taking piano lessons. When a B was met with a frown. When he had to sneak notes to the football captain, lest other students find out about them. When he had to spend extra time on his knees with the head of the monastery for his sinful thoughts. Rhys felt like he was drowning as he stood in his office, watching his surroundings blur. He felt his legs give out and managed to catch himself on the corner of the desk. He then sank to the floor, drawing his knees up to his chest and burying his face in them.

Timothy was just another man that saw him as “not good enough”.

In the coming weeks, Rhys would fill his time with prayer and studying his Bible. He would vow to never allow himself to fall in love with a near stranger. He would devote himself fully to the Church. And it would be almost two months before Timothy returned to his flock, pretending as if nothing had happened.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I promise I'll eventually continue the main storyline, I swear it, I really will!


End file.
